A 26-year-old Muslim cleric, Ovie Ejebor who allegedly had anal sex with a 16-year-old boy, was on Tuesday remanded in the Correctional centre on the orders of a Badagry Chief Magistrates’ Court in Lagos.
Chief Magistrate Patrick Adekomaiya ordered the defendant to be remanded in Badagry Correctional Centre after the accused pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Ejebor, whose residence is unknown is standing trial on a charge of sexual assault by penetration.
Earlier, Prosecutor, ASP Akpan Nko told the court that the accused committed the offence on Dec. 15, 2022, at No 108, Kazeem Str., Ijyana-Cele, Ajangbadi area of Lagos.
“The defendant who claimed to be a Muslim cleric took the 16-year-old boy inside his house before assaulting him.
“The offence contravened Section 261 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015,” said the prosecutor, ” Nko said.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Section 261 prescribes life imprisonment for offenders.
The Chief Magistrate adjourned the case until April 25, for a hearing.
Former Kano state governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has finally dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
In a letter addressed to his ward chairman, Kwankwaso said, “May I begin by thanking my Ward Chairman and all friends and well wishers in my ward, and indeed from across the country and beyond for the very respectful relationship we have had and the tremendous support I have enjoyed during my stay in the PDP.
“It is with deep sense of responsibility that I write to notify you that as a result of some serious and irreconcilable differences I have reached the conclusion that my continued stay in the PDP is untenable and therefore, effective from Tuesday the 29 day of March, 2022, I have withdrawn my membership from the People’s Democratic Party, PDP.”
Kwankwaso had announced his plan to exit the party before the end of March.
The opposition All Progressives Congress APC in Abia State are currently in fear following the defection of one of the top leaders of the party in Isuikwuato, Chief Amobi Ogah along with his thousands of supporters.
The official defection to the PDP coincided with his formal declaration to contest for House of Representatives in the 2023 election to represent Isuikwuato/Umunneochi federal constituency.
Venue of the event, Onuaku Primary school field, Uturu was filled to capacity as elated crowd and members of the PDP officially received him to the party.
The decampees, including youths, men and women were received into PDP by the Southeast Zonal Chairman, Chief (Dr.) Ali Odefa and the Abia State Chairman Chairman the party, Rt.Hon (Dr) Alwell Asiforo Okere, Members of the Abia State PDP Working Committee, the PDP Isuikwuato and Umunneochi LGAs Party Chairmen and the entire Local Government Executives of the PDP.
The Executive Governor of Abia State Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu ably represented by the Honourable Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Barr. Eze Chikamnayo promised a level playing ground for all while officially welcoming Hon. Amobi and others into the party.
Speaking at the event, Amobi Ogah assured of his determination to reclaim Isuikwuato/ Umunneochi Federal Constituency from the All Progressives Congress and ensure that what is due to the people is given to them.
He insists that it is an anathema for a particular person to hold the Constituency to ransom and called for collective efforts to rescue them.
He promised that the peaceful political relationship between Isuikwuato and umunneochi will be maintained.
Different speakers at the event called on the People’s Democratic Party to use this golden bullet found in Amobi Ogah to wrestle power from APC, as he remains a man to beat at the polls come 2023.
The event featured the burning of brooms and official hand over of the umbrella and other party insignia to Hon. Ogah and other decampees.
Former Kano state governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has finally dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Rabiu Kwankwaso
In a letter addressed to his ward chairman, Kwankwaso said, “May I begin by thanking my Ward Chairman and all friends and well-wishers in my ward, and indeed from across the country and beyond for the very respectful relationship we have had and the tremendous support I have enjoyed during my stay in the PDP.
“It is with deep sense of responsibility that I write to notify you that as a result of some serious and irreconcilable differences I have reached the conclusion that my continued stay in the PDP is untenable and therefore, effective from Tuesday the 29 day of March, 2022, I have withdrawn my membership from the People’s Democratic Party, PDP.”
Kwankwaso had announced his plan to exit the party before the end of March.
Moses Simon has promised Nigerians that Super Eagles players will give their all in Tuesday’s 2022 World Cup qualifying playoffs against Ghana.
A win for the Eagles will seal a seventh World Cup appearance while Ghana is seeking a fourth outing at the Mundial.
The first leg saw the Eagles battle to a goalless draw in Kumasi on Friday.
And Simon, who was featured in the first game sounded out the importance of the game and the team spirit.
He said in Monday’s presser: ”It’s not all about me it’s all about the teams and team spirit of course we know all it takes for this game we will give everything.”
In talks that he was caged against Tunisia and Ghana, he said it was not the case.
“The game against Tunisia I was not caged and against Ghana we all know its tactics. It can be difficult because we know how Ghana plays but we are confident of overcoming them.”
Meanwhile, the duo of Samuel Chukwueze and Innocent Bonke are doubts about the game due to injuries.
The National Assembly on Tuesday transmitted 44 Constitution Review Bills recently passed by the Senate and House of Representatives to the State Houses of Assembly for further legislative work.
The two chambers of the National Assembly had considered 68 Constitution Review (fifth alteration) Bills but only 44 were passed.
The Clerk to the National Assembly, Arch. Amos Ojo, made the presentation to Clerks to the 36 State Houses of Assembly, in Abuja.
The Clerk to the National Assembly, Arch. Amos Ojo, made the presentation to Clerks to the 36 State Houses of Assembly, in Abuja.
The chairperson, Forum of Clerks of State Houses of Assembly, Mrs Lyna Aliya Ocholor symbolically received the Bills on behalf of 34 of her colleagues present at the ceremony.
Ocholor is the Clerk to the Delta State House of Assembly. She pledged that her colleagues will carry out the necessary legislative processes required for the bills to be considered by the various State Houses of Assembly.
President Muhammadu Buhari has broken his silence on tax administration in Nigeria, saying the 2021 Finance Act empowers the Federal Inland Revenue Service FIRS as the sole authority to administer tax for the Federal Government.
President Muhammadu Buhari
Buhari who spoke at the second National Tax Dialogue Week, in Abuja on Tuesday, said the clarification became necessary to avoid taxpayers being burdened with multiple tax compliance obligations towards different agencies of the same government.
Recall that the FIRS and Rivers State government have been engaged in a battle of wits over tax collection at the state level.
Buhari used the forum to restate his administration’s commitment to an efficient tax administration to improve tax revenue in the country.
He insisted that a situation where the current tax system in the country, characterised by fragmented administration, multiple and sometimes, overlapping taxes may not augur well for the system.
He said, ‘In most tax-efficient nations, tax administrative processes and practices are harmonised within a single system.
”One key deliverable of this year’s tax dialogue is to promote synergy in tax administration among the different tiers of government.
”Harmonising taxpayer-identification across the country is a good start but we must do more to promote ease of doing business (including ease of tax compliance) in Nigeria.
”On our part, we have started by clarifying in the 2021 Finance Act that FIRS is the sole authority to administer tax for the Federal Government.
”This clarification became necessary in order to avoid taxpayers being burdened with multiple tax compliance obligations towards different agencies of the same government.
”Multiplicity of tax administration is as undesirable as a multiplicity of taxes; it creates uncertainty and instability; and above all, it is inefficient,” the President said at the Dialogue themed ”Tax Harmonisation for Enhanced Revenue Generation.’’
The President also expressed concerns over the dwindling revenues from commodities, insisting that there is an urgent need to maximise domestic revenue within the extant tax policy and laws.
In his opinion, improved tax revenue for the country which will not necessarily impose new tax rates on Nigerians was now necessary.
”We all know that good intention is not enough as they simply cannot pay for infrastructure, security or social amenities. We must therefore improve tax revenue without necessarily raising new taxes.
”Revenue from commodities, including crude oil, are too volatile and unreliable. Therefore, I pledge the government’s support for any viable initiative for improving tax revenue that should emanate from this dialogue,’’ he said.
President Muhammadu Buhari has been told to, without any further delay, sack his National Security Adviser, NSA, Major General Babagana Monguno (rtd), and the Minister of Defence, Major General Bashir Salihi Magashi (rtd).
President Buhari
HURIWA, in a statement signed by Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, its National Coordinator, expressed disappointment and sadness with the increasing spate and sophistication of coordinated attacks by unknown gunmen in Imo State and terrorists in North West.
The group’s reaction followed the weekend’s temporary take over of the Kaduna International Airport by over 200 well-armed terrorists and the attack in the wee hours of Monday 28th March 2022 in Obowo police formation in Imo State in which two police operatives were seriously injured.
The rights group wonders whether the President is waiting for the terrorists to launch a daring invasion of the National Assembly complex within the three arms zone of Abuja before he would realise that he has no effective National Security Adviser and Minister of Defence.
HURIWA, therefore, appealed to Buhari to take urgent action because the terrorists are becoming even more daring and emboldened because they feel they have nothing to fear.
HURIWA blames what it calls the dysfunctionality of the National defence strategy and the non-workability of any sort of national security strategy put forward by Monguno and Magashi for the upsurge in terror attacks.
The group wants the President “to immediately rejig his national defence strategy by appointing serving senior military Generals as Minister of Defence and NSA.”
The human rights advocacy group pointed out that “the appointments of very senior and experienced military officers who are currently abreast with the global best practices and the 21st-century compliant innovative ideas to beat back the attacks of terrorists and the so-called unknown gunmen are exactly the expertise the country needs to navigate successfully away from terrorist attacks.”
The rights group also called on the Federal Government to probe the security services in states whereby terrorists are having a field day to ascertain whether these inefficient security heads are working with armed non-state actors in the South East and North West.
Moscow says it will “drastically reduce military activity” on two fronts — Kyiv and Chernihiv — according to the Russian Ministry of Defense Telegram channel.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russia President Vladimir Putin
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine earlier claimed “certain units” of Russia’s military are withdrawing from battlefronts in the capital, Kyiv, and from the northern city of Chernihiv.
“The Russian enemy did not meet the goal of its offensive operation,” it said in an official Facebook update Tuesday.
However, it warned of a “high risk” of Russian troops attacking military and civilian infrastructure. The Russian military, it claimed, is struggling to reinforce and rotate in new soldiers, due to the “refusal of personnel to participate in the so-called special operation,” and are “not able to staff even one battalion-tactical group.”
In the fifth week of the Russian invasion, the “heroic” Ukrainian resistance is “conducting a defence operation in the eastern, southeastern and northeastern directions, restrains the enemy in all directions, in some directions – displaces the enemy,” it said.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta admits he no longer speaks with Lionel Messi after his controversial move to PSG.
Laporta was excited at the idea of Messi being present for the inauguration of the new Camp Nou, even though it’s a long way away, because it would be “beautiful.”
However, he recognised that “there’s no personal contact, I remember him with affection and I hope he feels the same.
“It was not easy for me, I would have liked things to go differently, but as they happened, I thought of the institution first and I think we did what we had to do.”
In that sense, he doesn’t see any chance of Messi coming back as a player: “We’re not considering it. We’re building a new team with young players, but he deserves respect.”
Laporta added: “I don’t speak with him, I don’t have fluid communication with him like before he left. We hear comments from people close to him… Barcelona pulls you a lot and when you leave you miss the city, Barça, he had a great life here. I felt worse for the personal and family side of things than the other, but also that.”
Abia State governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Mascot Uzor Kalu, has expressed concern over what he described...
